Undocumented immigrants are ‘breaking a law’

Demonstrators during a rally for immigration reform in Birmingham, Ala., Oct. 5, 2013. Thousands of supporters of an immigration overhaul gathered on Saturday for rallies in more than 130 locations around the country, trying to pressure Congress to focus on passing a pathway to citizenship for millions of undocumented immigrants. (Bob Miller/The New York Times)

Demonstrators during a rally for immigration reform in Birmingham, Ala., Oct. 5, 2013. Thousands of supporters of an immigration overhaul gathered on Saturday for rallies in more than 130 locations around the country, trying to pressure Congress to focus on passing a pathway to citizenship for millions of undocumented immigrants. (Bob Miller/The New York Times)

My grandmother and her mother were the first generation of my family to come to the United States from the Dominican Republic. When my grandmother began the legal process she already had her five children, this meaning that after she got her visa she helped my grandfather get one and then they had to do the same for their five children.

My mother, a teenager in the late ‘90s, came over and completed high school, and also became a U.S. citizen. She was able to complete a traditional 4-year college living without the fear of deportation or of law enforcement.

Me being the part of the first generation of my family to be born in American soil, I am able to live with no fear. Not one person in my family is not a U.S. citizen and I think that this put us on a path for success. My mother has a PhD, and is now able to live comfortably.

This leads into my opinion that undocumented immigrants are breaking a law and should get the punishment that the government has put in place. (I am not referring to the DACA dreamers because their situation is a gray area.)

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Many people say that they should be left alone because they aren’t out committing a crime, but the sole fact that they came to this country illegally makes them criminals. I personally feel sympathy for them, but logically they are breaking a law, and their lack of respect should not be rewarded.

For the other immigrants who came to America via the legal route, granting citizenship to those who came here illegally because of pity negates the work of those who worked hard and respectfully to be here.

Kylie Polanco

Raleigh

ID struggles

Regarding “Voter ID decision could go on 2018 ballot” (June 7): If you drive yourself to the polls, you have a photo ID. So it’s easy to think “what’s the big deal?” about this proposal. It’s hard for most of us to understand or remember what it’s like to be a person without a photo ID.

But if you don’t have a driver’s license – because you are young or poor (no car, so what’s the point?) or you have a condition that precludes driving or you have trouble gathering the papers, time, and money to get to a DMV – you know that a photo ID requirement for voting will be a very big barrier.

Do the obvious costs (including taxpayer money) really outweigh the tiny hypothetical benefits? I hope people shift their thinking away from “it’s not hard for me so it shouldn’t be hard for anyone” to “I can see that it might be very hard for some of my fellow citizens” and then vote “no” when this proposed constitutional amendment appears on our ballots.

Victoria Shea

Pittsboro

‘Sleight-of-hand’

Regarding “Justices side with baker in wedding cake case” (June 5): the U.S. Supreme Court botched another decision in its apparent devotion to right-wing conservatism. They did this in a sleight-of-hand decision in which they blamed the Colorado Civil Rights Commission for its “clear and impermissible hostility toward the sincere religious beliefs” that motivated the plaintiff’s objection.

The plaintiff’s religious beliefs would not in any way have been diminished by his baking a cake for a customer. He still could have gone to church Sunday or any other day; he didn’t have to attend the wedding; he didn’t even have to wish the couple well.

How would the court have ruled if the baker refused to do business based on the cake being made for a member of a religion other than his? “Sorry, I don’t bake cakes or matzoh for Jews.”

Mark Zimmerman

Durham

My principal

Cathy Moore was my principal at Sanderson High School. I was President of the SHS PTA and VP of Wake County PTA at that time. I well remember Moore and have followed her successes since.

When I found Moore was a candidate for SHS, I immediately called the Enloe principal’s office to get up to speed on Moore. Of all the exciting things I heard about Moore, the thing I remember most was “The students love her.”

Cathy Moore and I saw Sanderson at Wakefield while its building was under renovation and then returned to a seemingly new building. I had six principals in my 24 years in PTA and she stood out as the best. I’ve been proud of her leadership since and that will continue as my two granddaughters, Wake County and our society reaps continued rewards from Superintendent Moore.